Cybersecurity Tips for January 2026

Smishing Awareness: Protect Yourself From Text Message Scams

Smishing attacks are scams that use deceptive text (SMS) messages to trick you into giving away personal information or clicking on malicious links. These types of attacks can lead to all types of issues, from financial loss to identity theft. It is important to be aware of scammers' techniques and how to protect yourself. 

Smishing attacks can be highly personalized scams. In the past, several Barry-Wehmiller team members have reported receiving scam messages that appear to have been sent by BW leaders, including Bob Chapman; and just recently, from Stan Blakney, BW Converting Group President. Often in those cases, bad actors have found their target mobile phone numbers through various websites. They then marry those up with a user’s personally identifiable information (PII) from LinkedIn and other websites—including social media and networking platforms—and then target their victims based on the employment details they’ve posted to LinkedIn. 

Notice the grammar mistakes and the sense of urgency in this malicious SMS text message that was received by a team member. It was sent by a bad actor posing as Bob Chapman. 

What should I do if I get a text message I suspect is a smishing attempt?

• Stop, look and think before you provide confidential information, return a phone call, text back or take any other action. Look for red flags, such as misspellings, grammar errors and a sense of urgency.
• Consider if the type of text message is out of character for the sender.
• To verify the validity of the text message, contact the sender through an alternate method, such as a BW email address, a Microsoft Teams message, a verified business or personal phone number (not the one in the text message), or in person.
• If you determine the text message is malicious, delete it and block the phone number. 

Source: 

A Growing Goldmine: Your LinkedIn Data Abused For Cybercrime. Veronica Chierzi and Mayra Rosario Fuentes. Trend Business. March 28, 2023. https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/a-growing-goldmine-your-linkedin-data-abused-for-cybercrime#

AI-Powered Vishing: What You Should Know About Voice Phishing 

With the rise of AI, scams are becoming more personal and harder to recognize. Vishing, short for voice phishing, has evolved from the fairly common, and frequently successful, tech support scams (where a scammer pretends to be a help desk representative and calls an unsuspecting target to help fix their computer, for instance). 

Those types of vishing scams are still prevalent. But today’s vishing activities have grown even more insidious: Through AI, fraudsters are using voice mimicry to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information such as bank details or login credentials. Recent data has revealed vishing as a top-tier threat for organizations and predicts global losses from deepfake-enabled scams could hit $40B by 2027. Here is what you need to know about vishing: 

• AI voice cloning lets scammers mimic real people’s voices, from just a few seconds of audio. The rise of AI means vishers now clone voices instantaneously.
  • You may know these voices. Modern vishers gather voice clips online to clone the voices of your friends, family or colleagues, making vishing scams very convincing.
• In 2024, experts found voice phishing skyrocketed by 442% year over year, as attackers leverage AI and multi-channel tactics.
• Anyone can fall for these scams. While older adults are heavily targeted, studies have shown that those aged 18 to 44 often slip up too. In 2021, 59% of vishing victims were male, many under 45. Although this figure is not related to AI vishing, but vishing in general, it shows how easily anyone can be targeted. 

The takeaway: AI vishing is no longer rare. Take charge of your security. Follow these steps to avoid falling victim to vishing attacks:

• Stay alert: Do not share sensitive information with unsolicited callers, be wary of urgent requests, and if a phone call or voice message feels off, pause and verify.
• Verification before action: Never share personal information while on a call that came in unexpectedly. If you believe you are actually being contacted by your bank, company or government agency, you can always hang up and call back using official numbers from their websites.
• If you detect a scam, disconnect immediately.
• Regarding BW-related conversations with a scammer, be sure to report such incidents to your local IT Service Desk. 

To learn more about vishing, click here.

Source:

Khalil, M. (2025, October 20). Vishing Statistics 2025: Ai Deepfakes & the $40B voice scam surge. DeepStrike. https://deepstrike.io/blog/vishing-statistics-2025 

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